Category: Speeches

Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has issued (a) an enforcement order, (b) a provisional enforcement order or a remedial plan notice against Govia Thameslink Railway.

Claire Perry

No enforcement order has been issued against Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR). A remedial plan notice was issued in July 2015 and the Remedial Plan was agreed between the Department for Transport and GTR in February this year.

01/01/2023
Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2016 to Question 44840, on honours: males, if he will take steps to ensure that all future press releases on honours nominations include men when appealing for nominations of people who deserve an honour.

Ben Gummer

Anyone can nominate anyone for an honour. The Cabinet Office outreach includes this message in all public communications, including press releases.

01/01/2023
Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington on 2015-10-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are considering to allow flight training organisations based in the United Kingdom to train overseas student pilots for a professional pilot’s licence.

Lord Bates

Flight training organisations can teach courses lasting up to six months to international students, under the short-term study visa route.

Alternatively, they may use the Tier 4 visa route where the course lasts longer than six months and they hold a Tier 4 sponsor licence. To qualify for a Tier 4 sponsor licence, an institution must have a track record of teaching UK or EEA students, and be teaching courses which meet Tier 4 requirements. To meet Tier 4 requirements, a course must lead to an approved qualification, as defined in the Tier 4 Guidance for Sponsors.

01/01/2023
Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to support children and young people who are referred to NHS Mental Health services but do not receive treatment as they did not meet the clinical threshold to quality for treatment at a Child and Mental Health Services centre.

Alistair Burt

The Government is committed to transforming the support for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing as set out by the vision in Future in mind. This includes both clinical services commissioned by the NHS, and the wider support on offer in a range of settings.

One of the first stages in achieving this vision is the implementation of Local Transformation Plans for children’s mental health and wellbeing developed by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), together with their local partners. These Plans cover the full spectrum of mental health issues: from prevention and resilience building, to support and care for existing and emerging mental health problems, as well as transitions between services and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable.

This means that by 2020, local offers will be transformed so that the emotional welfare and mental health of children will be supported whether or not their mental health issues are clinically diagnosable. In many cases, by building resilience in schools or by early intervention, we hope to prevent the emergence of mental disorders.

01/01/2023
Bridget Phillipson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, (a) what representations he has received on and (b) whether his Department plans to incentivise employers to offer the National Living Wage.

Nick Boles

From 1 April 2016 every employer is required by law to pay the new statutory National Living Wage (NLW) for workers aged 25 and above.

01/01/2023
Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress he has made on the Pub Loan Fund; and when he expects that fund to be accessible to community groups.

Mr Marcus Jones

Good progress is being made on the development of the pubs loan fund. We hope to be in a position to make a more formal announcement shortly with communities being able to access the support later in the Spring.

01/01/2023
Angela Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Eagle on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the performance against its aims of the Government’s productivity plan, entitled Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation, published in July 2015.

Joseph Johnson

Productivity growth is a key economic challenge for this Parliament. Productivity, measured as output per hour worked, grew by 1.3% in the third quarter of 2015 compared to a year earlier.

We are now in the process of implementing the Productivity Plan, with Ministers and officials overseeing delivery through cross-Whitehall boards and Cabinet Committees. We are making good progress, specifically:
- The rate and scope of the Apprenticeships Levy has been confirmed, bringing us closer to a sustainable funding system to boost skills and put employers in the driving seat.
- The Cutting Red Tape Programme aims to cut at least £10 billion of unnecessary regulation.
- The Housing and Planning Bill, now awaiting its Committee stage in the House of Lords, was introduced to boost house building and accelerate planning decisions.
- New devolution deals have been signed with Sheffield, the North East, Tees Valley, Liverpool and West Midlands.
- Proposals have been made to increase the quality of teaching and student choice in higher education.
- The Productivity Leadership Group, chaired by Sir Charlie Mayfield, is progressing well and will report in the summer.
- We have continued to protect the science budget in real terms to the end of the Parliament, and are protecting in cash terms the funding through Innovate UK.
01/01/2023
Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Freedom of Information requests his Department has received from hon. Members since the coming into force of the Act.

Matthew Hancock

Due to the nature of the way FOI requests are recorded it is unfortunately not possible to identify the number of requests from all former and existing Cabinet Office Ministers or honourable members except at disproportionate cost.

01/01/2023

Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel handed in a formal notice of resignation in each month since January 2014.

Mark Lancaster

Details of the number of Armed Forces personnel who have handed in a formal notice of resignation since January 2014 are given in the tables below. The information provided is an estimate of the number of applications made by Service personnel to leave before the end of their agreed engagement or commission period. It relates to those who have an application to leave recorded on their personnel record on the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system.

Voluntary Outflow (VO) is defined as all exits from trained personnel which are voluntarily generated by the individual before the end of their agreed engagement or commission period.

It should be noted that the figures do not include people who request to leave but have their application refused, or their application is not completed appropriately.

ROYAL NAVY

Month	Number of Voluntary Outflow applications
January 2014	30
February 2014	370
March 2014	190
April 2014	150
May 2014	240
June 2014	130
July 2014	190
August 2014	110
September 2014	220
October 2014	170
November 2014	170
December 2014	70
January 2015	150
February 2015	140
March 2015	140
April 2015	140
May 2015	140
June 2015	150
July 2015	120
August 2015	100
September 2015	180
October 2015	140
November 2015	140
December 2015	110
January 2016	130

In accordance with the Defence Statistics rounding policy, all figures are rounded to the nearest 10, and numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to avoid systematic bias.

ARMY

Month	Number of Voluntary Outflow Applications
January 2014	510
February 2014	570
March 2014	510
April 2014	480
May 2014	460
June 2014	510
July 2014	420
August 2014	320
September 2014	680
October 2014	520
November 2014	460
December 2014	230
January 2015	680
February 2015	470
March 2015	400
April 2015	460
May 2015	450
June 2015	470
July 2015	410
August 2015	340
September 2015	580
October 2015	450
November 2015	400
December 2015	210
January 2016	210

In accordance with the Defence Statistics rounding policy, all figures are rounded to the nearest 10, and numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to avoid systematic bias.

ROYAL AIR FORCE

Month	Number of Voluntary Outflow Applications
January 2014	260
February 2014	210
March 2014	240
April 2014	180
May 2014	200
June 2014	190
July 2014	220
August 2014	180
September 2014	250
October 2014	220
November 2014	210
December 2014	150
January 2015	240
February 2015	170
March 2015	220
April 2015	200
May 2015	160
June 2015	190
July 2015	170
August 2015	160
September 2015	210
October 2015	190
November 2015	270
December 2015	130
January 2016	250

In accordance with the Defence Statistics rounding policy, all figures are rounded to the nearest 10, and numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to avoid systematic bias.

01/01/2023

Nigel Mills – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Mills on 2016-05-10.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff at HM Revenue and Customs work on insolvency procedures.

Mr David Gauke

Within HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) debt management teams in Worthing and Edinburgh are responsible for initiating insolvency actions where other attempts to recover sums due have been unsuccessful. A third team at Newcastle lodges HMRC’s claims in insolvencies. The total number of staff engaged on insolvency work in HMRC’s debt management offices is 258.

01/01/2023